A bright idea.

In October 2008, Jacq had this idea of buying me a camera so I would have something to do when I came to Glasgow (aside from cleaning the flat and cooking rice with passion and delicacy, which I am known for). Naturally, I was indignant and hugely exasperated with her, for this introduced many nights of excitement and despair, and the gnashing of many teeth.

Finally, after an in-depth investigation of cameras and lenses launched by the Department of Trade and Industry and Mando (mostly Mando), a close call with, I’m almost certain, a scammer based in Buguias, and countless lines of chat with Jacq, Mando and I group-huddled at UP, met with a seller at Robinson’s Galleria and bought a slightly used 40D.

Then we passed by Narra, and in the company of what remained of what once was, I was reminded of playing basketball with slippers on, not rubber shoes, that is, if one was fortunate enough to have any, or risk being labeled a fraud and a show-off for what else would one call someone barely able to pay 175 pesos a month in rent but is seen cavorting around in a pair of Nikes, surely, a pretender if ever there was one, of scaling the chicken-wire fence after curfew to buy Ginebra‘s bilog or kwatro kantos, take your pick, it doesn’t matter, you’ll be throwing up in a matter of hours anyway, and of serenading girls hiding behind dormitory windows on a clear night, armed with a huge dose of romance, a torch and a guitar, and a few memorised chords from dog-eared copies of Most Wanted Hits and The Complete Beatles Songbook. Ultimate Guitar was still a germ of an idea, if that, in Eugeny Naidenov’s mind then, and I doubt if he was already in Kaliningrad State University, serenading girls armed with a torch and a guitar and some chords from The Complete (So Far) Guns N’ Roses Songbook.

We saw this infectiously bubbly man peddling ice cream, but we didn’t buy any from him, he was going too fast.

We hung out at the NIP poolside some more, and then it was dusk, and I took pictures of Vinzon’s Hall’s Katipunero before heading home, and that was my first day with the 40D.